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VCD
VCD (Video CD also referred to as View CD or Compact Disc Digital Video) is an optical home media format and the first format which distributed motion pictures on the standard 120mm optical discs and was the hoped-for replacement for the VHS magnetic videotape. Introduced at the start of the 1990s by , it was a further development of the music , also developed by Philips, whose compression technology served as the basis for the new format. Compared to later 120mm optical storage formats like the DVD and Blu-ray Disc, storage capacity was limited, resulting in features that were typically spread over two discs with picture quality comparable to the contemporary LaserDisc format competitor. Early releases were on the VCD variant, the CD-i disc, which was only playable on Philips' own player, before a industry standard was agreed upon in 1993. Philips had made a grave error in marketing their players in that a cartridge had to be separately purchased before a CD-i movie was playable, which became a major contributing factor to the commercial failure of the product. It was not the first time Phillips exhibited very poor judgement in their marketing strategies, and the company had actually to set something straight; previously, believing that their far superior videotape would sell itself, it was in effect the very first one to fall early on in the magnetic videotape format war, ultimately decided in the favor of the least qualitative one, the VHS. The commercial failure of the CD-i player meant that the VCD format did not gain any traction in North America, Europe and Australia, though there were several additional reasons as well, aside from the one already mentioned, chief amongst them the advent of the qualitative superior DVD format (ironically co-developed by Philips), introduced hard on the heels of the VCD. Ultimately, Philips released around 125 titles, including seven Star Trek titles, in the aforementioned markets, before they threw in their lot with DVD in the latter half of the 1990s. VCD however, was a commercial success in regions where average per capita income was substantially lower than in the developed world, such as Latin America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, mainland China, and South East Asia (published under Deltamac), due to the relatively low cost of both players and discs, explaining why the majority of the older DVD players were still capable of playing the format. In recent years however, VCD started as of 2011 to rapidly lose market share to DVD in these areas due to the fall of DVD prices, they themselves losing market share to the Blu-ray Disc and, more recently and importantly, to the rapidly increasing worldwide popularity of the digital video-on-demand streaming services by such companies as, most conspicuously, Netflix. This is emphasized by the fact that most of the newer generations of DVD/Blu-ray players no longer support the format. Whether or not by design or by coincidence, this has also helped to thwart the circumstance that the VCD had in the intervening years become the medium of choice for the dissemination of pirated copies, especially in Africa and eastern Asia where the problem of piracy was particularly pervasive. Star Trek release chronology One of the studios Philips obtained licenses from was Paramount Pictures and, starting in 1993, began to release the in the new format in Europe and North America. The first release was , concurrently one of the very first titles released in the new format, which for the US, UK, France, and Germany was pressed on the CD-i disc variant, whereas the rest of Europe received the proper VCD variant. In the end, before the format was abandoned seven titles were released in America and Europe. While no longer a viable format in these markets, Star Trek titles continue to be released on VCD in those regions where the format is still in use. External links * * An overview of released VCD titles in the US and UK Category:VCDs de:VCD